It was, therefore, with particular joy that I received the news that Contacto Atlântico, founded by my friend André Caiado, was distinguished with the DNA Paris Design Awards 2026, in the Refurbishment category, for the extraordinary work carried out in the Rossio Quarter, in Lisbon. An award that joins other important distinctions already won by this project and that confirms, once again, the quality and consistency of the work developed by this Portuguese studio.

I want to congratulate André, his entire team and, in a very special way, his son João Caiado, who also represents the continuity of a professional history built over many years with passion, demand, creativity and, above all, hard work.

There is something particularly beautiful about this continuity between generations. Architecture, like so many other professions where creativity intersects with knowledge, is also made of transmission. Experiences, principles and ways of looking at the world are transmitted, but each new generation inevitably adds its vision, its energy and its way of thinking about the future.

And perhaps it is precisely this relationship between past and future that makes this project so special.

Rehabilitating heritage does not simply mean conserving what already exists. It means understanding your history, respecting your identity and finding a clever way to bring it back to life. In the case of the Rossio Quarter, we are talking about a Pombaline building of about two centuries, located in one of the most emblematic places in Lisbon, whose intervention sought to recover and preserve historical elements and from the frescoes to the tiles and the façade itself, reconciling them with the requirements of a contemporary use.

It is a way of making architecture that I deeply respect: the one that does not need to erase the past to build the future.

This international recognition should also serve to remind us of something that we sometimes forget: Portugal has extraordinary professionals.

We have architects, engineers, designers and technical teams capable of developing projects with a quality that competes, without any complex, with the best that is done internationally. We have knowledge, creativity, sensitivity and a relationship with history and the territory that distinguishes us.

When a Portuguese project is awarded in Paris, it is not only a studio that receives a distinction. It is also Portuguese architecture that crosses borders and demonstrates to the world the quality that exists in our country.

Therefore, this text is, first of all, a hug of congratulations to my friends.

To André, João and the entire Contacto Atlântico team, my sincere congratulations.

May they continue to create, preserve, innovate and, above all, take Portugal and Portuguese architecture further and further. Because the prize is precisely yours, but the pride is also for all of us.